


Always Watching

by EventHorizons13



Series: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Characters [9]
Category: The Resident (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Dubious Morality, F/M, Firefighters, Gen, Hospitalization, Injury Recovery, Miscarriage, Non-Consensual Touching, Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Not Canon Compliant, Scars, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:49:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23659396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EventHorizons13/pseuds/EventHorizons13
Summary: KJ Stevens find an apartment that is to good to be true in NYC. She immediately settles in and tries to find the stability in life that had been robbed from her.
Relationships: Max (The Resident)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Characters [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2075559
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Always Watching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A morning phone call delivers some tragic news that forces KJ to cancel her lunch plans with Max, her landlord who may be more. Max decides he needs to know what was more important than their lunch and follows.

The call had come in the late morning, the ringing buzz from my laptop echoing through the apartment to let me know that someone was trying to reach me. Generally the only ones that did so through the computer were friends overseas so of course I scrambled to reach it in time. Though, part of me almost wished that I hadn’t. I should have known it was going to be bad news, given the time. It was too late over there to be making a social call.

Staring at the screen, my brain was not at all catching up to what had just come out of Colin’s mouth. His eyes were red and he was sniffling, telling me I wasn’t dreaming. He had really just told me that Haley had miscarried and there wasn’t any chance of him getting home any time soon to try and help her through it.

“Shit, um yeah of course. I’ll head over right now. She shouldn’t be by herself.”

“Thanks KJ.” I shook my head.

“Nothing to thank me for. You get your head straight man. Don’t need you coming home in a body bag.” I gave him a stern look and he nodded. There were still some things that held weight apparently, the look that I could give being one of them. Closing the laptop, I rushed to get ready.

Ripping open the door, holding one boot by the tongue between my teeth, I startled a bit seeing Max standing there with a bottle of wine in his hands. The brilliant smile on his face slowly dissolved and I instantly felt terrible.

“Shit…” The word came out muffled through the material of my boot. Peeling it from my mouth, I gave him my best apologetic look as I inched out the door. “Max, I am so sorry. I got completely sidetracked with an emergency that came up. I gotta go…raincheck? Tomorrow? I really want to have lunch but this is super important.” Leaning up, I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, wanting to dispel the crestfallen and disappointed look that had come to his face. Unfortunately the action didn’t do much for him but he was trying to be polite.

“Um, yeah sure. I’ll come by around noon?”

“That would be perfect. Thank you so much for being understanding.” I gave him a wide grin, trying to convey my appreciation as I hopped on one foot to tug my other boot on. The jacket I was going to wear was still under my arm and without giving it too much though, I was rushing down the stairs, taking them two by two.

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Max stood in the hallway, mind working on catching up to what had just happened. The pit in his chest expanded and his fingers tightened around the neck of the bottle. Who was she going to see that was so much more important than he was? Swallowing hard, jealously slowly started to take place of the disappointment and he set the bottle down. Following her seemed like the best decision. He had to know what was happening. After giving it a moment, he moved down the stairs quickly. She was moving fast meaning he wouldn’t be able to give it too much time to wait so she wouldn’t catch him unless he wanted to lose her.

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It was only four blocks to the brownstone that Colin and his wife shared. There was no point in me getting a car. I would move faster on foot anyway, avoiding all that traffic bullshit. So, as I slung the jacket around my shoulders, I took off in the right direction. Normally, I would have tried to give some people the benefit of being polite and courteous but right now, it was the last thing on my mind as I plowed through people. I murmured apologies as I went but it really wasn’t genuine or a concern of mine.

Getting to the brownstone, I glanced up for a moment to see if I could see her in one of the windows. It was a no go. Frowning, I banged on the door.

“Haley, it’s KJ. I need you to open up.” I waited for a few moments to see if I would get a response. Give what had happened, I didn’t really expect her to come to the door. So I was going to have to coax her. “Listen, I know you probably want to be alone right now, but Colin is worried. And I am worried. This isn’t something that you should be dealing with all alone. I get it if you don’t want to talk, I will just sit there with you. But I need to know that you are still with us here Haley. Please open up. I really don’t feel like climbing the fire escape and through a window to get in. You know I will do it too so please don’t make me.” I fell silent, waiting for several more minutes. Still no answer. Great. More concern rushed through my veins and I knew I had to get into the house. There was no telling what condition she was in and if there was a problem, well too much time had been wasted already. Jumping down the stairs, I moved to the side of the building before wasting no time in launching myself upward.

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Max had barely managed to keep up with her as she ran through the streets, not wanting others to catch onto the fact that he was following her and letting her know. Finding a spot on the opposite side of the street, he watched as she banged on the door and called out several times before her shoulders dropped in almost disappointed and resignation. There was a hint of satisfaction that whatever had torn her away from him was disappointing her at the moment. Just like she had disappointed him. But then she did something that caught him off guard. She moved to the side of the brownstone and hopped up onto the fire escape. His eyes were wide as he watched her move up the rungs with an almost practiced ease before coming to a window. Opening it up, she slipped into the house as if it was a common occurrence.

The actions set off nerves throughout his body. Was this something she did on a regular basis? Had he covered his tracks enough? What if she knew that he had been watching her? What if this was all a plan to catch him in the act? Had she not been serious about wanting lunch with him? A million thoughts ran through his head and his anxiety began to spike. Chest heaving, he braced himself against the wall of the building off to his left. As much as he wanted to curl in on himself, wanted to ignore the world around him and let the anxiety take over, he couldn’t just yet. No, KJ was here for a reason which he didn’t know yet so he had to stay. For his own mental well being.

******************************************************************************************

It took about two hours before I was able to leave her alone for just a few minutes. Haley had been a mess, locked away in the bedroom, exhausted from crying and what her body had just gone through. I had to almost beg and barter my way into the room before managing to get her in the shower, cleaned up, and down to the dining room table. A cup of coffee and a small snack as she talked through what happened led to some crying, a lot of hugging, and a lot of soft murmurs of it was going to be alright. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was feeling, having lost her baby. There was a dullness to her voice and her eyes that were terrifying given the normally lively woman. I didn’t exactly feel comfortable leaving her on her own, but I was just leaving to grab us some food. There was no chance that she could be one her own for any extended amount of time right now, not with how down and out of it she was. I wouldn’t forgive myself if something were to happen to her after Colin had asked me to look in on her.

It felt like there were eyes on me as I walked down the street, an eerie sort of feeling that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Glancing around out of habit, I didn’t see anyone right off the bat. Blinking, I chalked it up to the emotional distress that I had just went through with my friend and continued onward. I just had to grab the pizza from the place three blocks down and then it was back to the brownstone to sit on the couch with Haley while we watched some stupid movie to keep her mind occupied until she crashed. As much as it could be. If she wanted to just spend the time crying on the couch, I would be there for that too.

*****************************************************************************************

Max frowned and glanced at his watch. KJ had left to grab a pizza before returning to the house and that had been nearly five hours ago. She wasn’t going to be coming home tonight, that much was becoming clear. He still didn’t know who it was that was in the house, who that person was to KJ. Clearly, it was of importance given her panic when she cancelled their lunch and the amount of time that she was spending in there. It wouldn’t do him any good to spend the night out in the alley just watching. In his mind, it wasn’t some sort of emergency like she had said it was when she was running out the door away from him. Otherwise, she would be leaving by now right? What could possibly keep her in there so long that didn’t require some sort of trip to the hospital and still classified as a dire emergency? If he made his way back to the building, maybe he could spend some time in her apartment. That sounded like a plan, it would give him some time to relax and ease off the anger that was still simmering below the surface about being blown off. Without her there, he could explore a few more things that he hadn’t gotten the chance to before.

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The following morning, I gave Haley a hug and reminded her to call me when she needed something or just needed an ear to vent to. She was in slightly better spirits. Not that I expected her to be anywhere near okay obviously. It was going to take her a long time to be able to make peace with what had happened and be able to move on. But I knew that she wasn’t currently in a spiraling pit of depression. That was what mattered the most. She would at least be safe on her own and I could let Colin know that. By the time that I got back to my apartment, I was exhausted, needed a shower, and just a couple minutes to decompress. Mentally, I was absolutely shot.

As I stepped up to the door, I saw the bottle of wine sitting outside. My head tilted back and I groaned softly. I had lunch with Max that I couldn’t forget. No matter how exhausted I was. So, I was only going to get a quick nap. I had sucked it up for much, much worse. This was something that I wanted to do so I had to get my ass moving. Picking up the bottle, I moved inside with a determination to make up for having to cancel on Max yesterday. After all, if I wanted things to go further than the friendly, flirty interactions we had before, yesterday was not the way to do it.


End file.
